(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) SUPERIOR, Wis. – Enbridge Inc. has launched the permitting process for rerouting its Line 5 pipeline across northern Wisconsin. The company decided to reroute the pipeline after the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued to force the removal of the line from its reservation. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge is seeking…
MINNEAPOLIS – Nurses, physician assistants and other caregivers in the union representing 1,800 HealthPartners workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike if a contract agreement cannot be reached before Feb. 19. Service Employees International Union represents 1,800 members at HealthPartners in Minnesota. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says 95% of members voted to begin a seven-day strike. The union announced the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has approved tuition hikes for nonresident and graduate students at six institutions. Increases will range between 1.5% and 25% at UW-Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, and Whitewater starting this fall. The schools say they need more money to cover instruction, raises, recruiting faculty, technology and training…
MANISTEE, Mich. (AP) – High water levels are wreaking havoc in the Great Lakes. The five inland seas are bursting at the seams during the region’s wettest period in more than a century, which scientists say is likely connected to the warming climate. And no relief is in sight. Forecasters expect the lakes to remain high well into 2020. Homes…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Another six people have died from the flu in Minnesota. The Department of Health’s latest Influenza Activity Report says as of February 1, 42 deaths have been associated with the flu this season. That’s up from 36 as of the previous week. Only one of those deaths has been to someone under 18 years old and…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Democratic National Committee is calling for a “recanvass” of the results of Monday’s Iowa caucus. Technical problems and delays have marred the first contest on the 2020 election calendar. The current results show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders nearly tied with almost all the votes counted. But the race remained too early to…
(https://results.thecaucuses.org/) WASHINGTON (AP) – New results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders nearly tied with almost all the votes counted. But the race remained too early to call early Thursday with 97% of precincts reporting. Party officials were scrambling to verify the remaining results three days after Iowans gathered at caucus sites across the state…
NEW YORK (AP) — Epic Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live. Madoff’s attorney filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular…
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump of impeachment, ending only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country and tested civic norms. The proceedings also are feeding the tumultuous 2020 run for the White House. A majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two…
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is on the verge of acquittal by the Senate. An afternoon vote will bring an end to only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history. One key Democrat, Alabama Sen. Doug Jones has now announced he will vote to convict. The impeachment vote comes at the start of a tumultuous campaign for the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin legislators are set to take public comments on a new Republican bill designed to prevent a backlog of untested sexual assault kits. The proposal has deepened the rift between Republicans and Democrats. In addition to kit submission protocols, the bill mandates police to notify immigration authorities of anyone in the country illegally arrested for sexual…
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (AP) – Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota police officer with sexually touching female students while hugging them at a suburban high school where he was a school resource officer. Forty-year-old Adam Pelton of River Falls, Wisconsin, was charged Monday with three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of fourth-degree sexual conduct. Pelton is accused…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Initial data released by the Iowa Democratic Party shows Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders ahead in the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. The tally of state delegate equivalents released Tuesday shows Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar trailing behind. The party released 62% of results from all 99 counties after a daylong delay sparked by…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A mother who lost her Army husband to a roadside bomb in Iraq. A man whose brother was killed by someone the White House contends should have been deported rather than released from jail. A 2-year-old girl born at 21 weeks. The three individuals are some of the “real people” who will help President Donald Trump highlight…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The two leaders of Milwaukee’s host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention have been placed on leave pending an investigation into allegations that they oversaw a toxic work environment. The Associated Press obtained a letter on Tuesday about the probe into the group’s president, Liz Gilbert, and its chief of staff, Adam Alonso. They didn’t…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Democratic Party says delays in reporting the outcome of Monday’s caucuses were due to a coding issue that has been fixed. The party says it hopes to release results “as soon as possible.” In a statement Tuesday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price says, “We have every indication that our systems were secure…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new mobile app is being blamed for the delay in reporting the results of Iowa’s 1,700 caucuses. Glitches with the mobile app caused confusion and left the caucus results unknown early Tuesday. Some caucus organizers were forced to call in results for the state party to record manually, introducing delays and the possibility for…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Minnesota utility regulators have approved a revised environmental review for a proposed $2.6 billion pipeline. The state Public Utilities Commission voted 3-1 to approve the environmental impact statement for Enbridge’s Line 3 project in northern Minnesota, saying it adequately addressed the impacts of a potential spill in the Lake Superior watershed. The new pipeline would replace Enbridge’s Line…
ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) — A northern Wisconsin man has been sentenced to more than 65 years behind bars for setting his former girlfriend’s bed on fire as she slept in it. Eugene Stumbaugh, 54, of Ashland was sentenced Thursday after a jury convicted him in November of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, arson and bail jumping. Stumbaugh could have faced up…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – More than two years have passed since the first presidential announcement, nearly $1 billion has been spent and numerous candidates have already come and gone. And yet the Democrats’ turbulent 2020 primary season officially begins Monday. By day’s end, tens of thousands of Iowa Democrats will have decided the results of their presidential caucus in…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill designed to prevent a backlog of untested sexual assault kits, scrapping proposals championed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. The Senate overwhelmingly passed bills in October that would create new kit submission and tracking requirements but they’ve stalled in the Assembly. Kaul has blasted Republicans who control that chamber for…
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Senate rejected the idea of summoning witnesses for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial late Friday, all but ensuring his acquittal. But senators considered pushing off final voting on his fate to next week. The vote on allowing new witnesses was defeated 51-49 on a near party-line vote. Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah voted…
DULUTH, Minn.-The breathtaking ice caves along the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore will likely be inaccessible this year, due to low ice coverage on Lake Superior. As of Friday, less than 5% of Lake Superior was covered by ice, much lower than the typical 25% of coverage at the end of January. While ice coverage on Superior typically peaks in February…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Minnesota regulators have opened a hearing on whether to approve an updated environmental review for Enbridge Energy’s plan to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across the state. But most of Friday’s testimony strayed well beyond the narrow official scope of the proceedings into the broader questions of whether the project should even be built. Environmental…
Fox 21 is also streaming the impeachment trial on Facebook. WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump appears poised for acquittal in his impeachment trial. Senators are preparing to vote late Friday to reject efforts to call more witnesses and instead start bringing a close to the third such trial in American history. Democrats’ hopes of prolonging the trial dimmed after a late…
BEIJING-Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are suspending all flights between the U.S. and China as an outbreak of a new virus spreads. American Airlines says it’s suspending flights beginning Friday through March 27. The company cited the U.S. State Department’s decision to advise against all travel to China. The decision also comes a day after the pilots’ union at…
GENEVA (AP) – The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of a new virus from China a global emergency after the number of infected people spiked more than tenfold in a week. The United Nations health agency made the determination on Thursday as more cases of human-to-human transmission were being reported worldwide. To date, China has reported more than…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin high school teacher has been charged in federal court with seven counts of attempting to create child pornography by secretly recording minors twice in 2019. The charges follow an investigation that was triggered by the discovery of hidden recording devices in the Minneapolis hotel room of students he was chaperoning on a business club…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Five colleges on Minnesota’s Iron Range hit by declining enrollment in recent years plan to merge. Minnesota State higher education system trustees endorsed the merger of the Northeast Higher Education District schools Wednesday in a unanimous vote. The colleges, which have a combined enrollment of about 2,900 full-time students, share a president and some services. The…
(AP Photo) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday signed into law a bipartisan bill that increases funding for homeless shelters by $1 million over the next two years. The Legislature passed the bill last week. It is the only one of eight bills in a homelessness package that has cleared both the state Senate and Assembly. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Hall of Fame defensive end Chris Doleman, who became one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers during 15 seasons in the league, has died. The longtime Minnesota Vikings star was 58. The Vikings and the Pro Football Hall of Fame expressed their condolences in statements confirming Doleman’s death on Tuesday night. Last night we lost a…
(courtesy: Twitter/UW-Madison, WeatherTech) MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine will be featured in a Super Bowl commercial that highlights a dog that survived cancer. WeatherTech, which makes pet care products among other things, is paying for Sunday’s $6 million, 30-second ad. The star of the commercial is Scout, a golden retriever whose owner is WeatherTech…
(AP Photo/John Minchillo) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The stepfather of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet as she studied inside her home now says he questions whether a teenager was wrongfully convicted of the shooting. Leonard Winborn was responding to an Associated Press investigation that uncovered new evidence and numerous inconsistencies in the case that sent Myon…
BELOIT, Wis. (AP) – Police in the City of Beloit say an elementary school student brought a loaded handgun to school Tuesday. A teacher at Todd Elementary School saw the gun in a backpack, confiscated the backpack and took steps to make sure other students in the classroom were safe. Police were called to the school around 8:45 a.m. Because…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence touted alternatives to a public school education during a visit to the state where the private school voucher program began. His stop Tuesday in battleground Wisconsin was part of a celebration of national school choice week. Pence and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos were both drowned out briefly by chants of “shame”…
WASECA, Minn. – The southern Minnesota police officer gravely wounded in a shooting has undergone reconstructive surgery for broken bones in his face and skull. A family post on Arik Matson’s CaringBridge web page says the surgery Monday at North Memorial Health Hospital left him dealing with some pain and swelling but otherwise went well. The 32-year-old Waseca officer was…
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s legal team is raising a broad-based attack on the impeachment case against him even as it mostly brushes past allegations in a new book that could undercut a key defense argument at the Senate trial. Former national security adviser John Bolton writes in a manuscript that Trump wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats have new fuel in their pursuit of sworn testimony at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. A draft of a book from former national security adviser John Bolton appears to undercut a key defense argument that the president never tied withholding of aid to Ukraine to a demand the country investigate political rival, Joe Biden. Bolton writes…
DETROIT LAKES, Minn. (AP) – Authorities in northern Minnesota say a man is dead after a snowmobile crash. Becker County sheriff’s authorities say the rollover was reported around 10:30 a.m. Saturday on a road near the Hubbard-Becker county line. The 50-year-old man who was driving the snowmobile was dead at the scene. His name was not released. The crash is…
CALABASAS, Calif. (AP) — NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on a remote, steep hillside in Southern California on Sunday, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball. The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers)…
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new pneumonia-like virus from China. Health officials say woman returned from a trip to China on Jan. 13 without showing any signs of illness, but a few days later she called her doctor to report feeling sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota health officials are reporting the first child death of the flu season. According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s weekly influenza and respiratory illness report, a total of 31 people in the state have died of the flu so far this season. The number of people hospitalized due to the flu has topped 1,200 this…
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats prosecuting President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are heading into the second day of arguments facing a big challenge. They’re trying to win over not just fidgety senators but an American public deeply divided by the Republican president’s actions. Prosecutors are relying on the same loops of videotaped testimony after Trump’s allies in the Republican-controlled Senate…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross says regents are planning to ask legislators to increase tuition in the next state budget. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Cross told the state Senate’s universities committee Wednesday that the regent’s biennial budget request will include a tuition increase roughly in keeping with inflation. Republicans have kept tuition…
Tune in right now to Fox 21’s Facebook page to watch the impeachment trial live. WASHINGTON-The U.S. Senate is poised to hear opening arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Democratic House managers are set to make their case that Trump abused power and should be removed from office. Trump himself said on Wednesday he wants top aides to testify, but…
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps) MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Milwaukee Brewers home ballpark will have a new name next year after a 20-year deal with Miller comes to an end. American Family Insurance announced Tuesday evening that Miller Park will become American Family Field next Jan. 1. A new logo and other branding elements will be revealed later. The Brewers a year…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – An internal audit has found several violations of laws to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in a Department of Human Services division responsible for a string of improper payments. The department’s behavioral health division was responsible for $29 million in overpayments to two American Indian bands and $70 million in improper payments to chemical dependency…
SEATTLE (AP) – The U.S. has its first case of a new virus that was found only last month in China, and health officials say they expect to see more around the world in the coming days. A U.S. resident who recently returned from a trip to central China has been diagnosed with the new virus. Health officials said Tuesday…
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have five additions to the NFC Pro Bowl roster, giving them eight players in the all-star game for their highest total in 10 years. The team announced Tuesday that quarterback Kirk Cousins, defensive end Everson Griffen, fullback C.J. Ham, linebacker Eric Kendricks, and cornerback Xavier Rhodes were picked as replacements. Running back Dalvin…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Another longtime Democratic Wisconsin state senator says he won’t seek re-election this fall. Mark Miller of Monona announced on the Senate floor Tuesday that he won’t run again this November. Miller is a former fighter pilot who has served in the Senate since 2004. He told his colleagues Tuesday that a winner-take-all culture has come to…
